Does NHL Fighting Lead Too Concussions?

I was watching Felger interview Thornton, two days ago before yesterday's game and he was asking Thornton about his fights and so fact. Immediately i looked at Thorton face and saw how bruised up it was, immediately thought too myself, should players in the Nhl stop fighting because it might lead too concussion. Should fighting be banned. What a weird coincidence that Thornton got concussed last night against the Sabres. What a shame.

I don't think that banning fighting is the answer, but I could really do without the enforcer role. I like to watch a guy like Ference, McQuaid, Campbell, Horton or Lucic drop the gloves, but watching Thornton and the opponent's 12th forward go at it does absolutely nothing for me.

I liked KPD's idea of reducing the number of players that teams can suit up by one in an effort to eliminate the enforcer. Teams would have a tough decision, as in the case of the Bruins a guy like Paille who kills penalties is much more valuable than a guy who fights.

Side note, have teams always dressed three forward lines or did it used to be just three? I know the old NHL games on Genesis had only three lines, but I wasn't sure if that was just a way to group the forwards and defensemen neatly.

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>>Does NHL Fighting Lead Too Concussions?
I was watching Felger interview Thornton, two days ago before yesterday's game and he was asking Thornton about his fights and so fact. Immediately i looked at Thorton face and saw how bruised up it was, immediately thought too myself, should players in the Nhl stop fighting because it might lead too concussion. Should fighting be banned. What a weird coincidence that Thornton got concussed last night against the Sabres. What a shame.

I am not a fan of the staged fight, but admit I enjoy a spontaneous fight that sparks up in the course of play.

I would still enjoy hockey if fighting of any sort was more harshly penalized to the point that it is banned. Not sure that is the way to go as far as the league is concerned. These guys play hockey for a living and some like Thornton play it in the enforcer role. They understand the risks.

My beef with fighting and it is with this one. Is that somebody wanted a fight but the fight wasn't a must.

You make Scott earn the fight or anyone else for that matter. Due to something that happened last year, a player new to the team this year tries to make amends.

Everybody sees Scott's size, you don't neutralize him in a fight. You do that by making him commit errors. Dump the puck in his corner every single time and every single time you have the puck. You cause him to stay off the ice.

I thought hockey was a mind game too. On the Bruins' brass that are not intelligent enough to know this.

Shawn has 3 times as many games as Scott and also has 5+ years on him too. That means something and when you factor in the minutes played per game, you don't need a crystal ball to figure out the rest.

I like Shawn Thornton, I think he has class and didn't need this.

When the Sabres signed Scott I didn't see teams making it a valued signing. Particularly not the Bruins.

I don't think that banning fighting is the answer, but I could really do without the enforcer role. I like to watch a guy like Ference, McQuaid, Campbell, Horton or Lucic drop the gloves, but watching Thornton and the opponent's 12th forward go at it does absolutely nothing for me.

I liked KPD's idea of reducing the number of players that teams can suit up by one in an effort to eliminate the enforcer. Teams would have a tough decision, as in the case of the Bruins a guy like Paille who kills penalties is much more valuable than a guy who fights.

Side note, have teams always dressed three forward lines or did it used to be just three? I know the old NHL games on Genesis had only three lines, but I wasn't sure if that was just a way to group the forwards and defensemen neatly.

From time to time yes a concussion will happen from fighting but I personally believe that taking fighting out of the game will cause way more concussions. Fighting is in hockey for a reason, it allows the players to police themselves and keeps star players from getting lit up.

Does fighting lead to concussions? Yes. When a guy is "stunned" by a punch such that he falls, that "stun" is a momentary loss of consciousness due to the fact that the spongy brain and its intricate neural circuitry has been thrown into sudden acceleration by the punch, and just as suddenly decelerated by the skull that contains it.

Mind you, blindside hits to the head, delivered by a skater at speed, tend to deliver even worse concussions than fights, simply because the forces (velocity and rotation) tend to be greater.

Simple answer to the OP's question: the purpose of a fight is to knock (concuss) a player out. Sure, a fight doesn't usually end in a concussion, but that is the object, isn't it? Do you see these thugs aiming for anything but the head?

Sure it does, and if he was working for about a million less a year as a bouncer somewhere, he`d still be at risk for a concussion. No need to take steps to protect limited talent players who wouldn`t have the slightest chance at being on an NHL roster making a mil a year, they know exactly what they are doing and what the risks are.

This doctor's research was poorly conducted and other medical professionals criticized him at the time this was published. One of those disagreeing was mentioned in the National Post article.

The way they determined injuries was looking for players who did not play the next game, it was not based on any injury reports from the teams. That's how they came up with the 17 injuries. Anyone would have to agree that hockey fights cause less damage than a street brawl. You have refs stepping in when they get tired and most fighters will back off once they see their opponent in a vunerable position. And the Doctor stating that, "fighting is not causing the concussions" should talk to Ben Eager and Thornton, both concussed from fights this season.

His research also stated that the risk of concussion in a fight was much lower for fighting (0.39 percent) compared to per-game risk due to checking (less than 4.5 percent). That's comparing apples to oranges. You need to compare the type of activity and frequency to get a better comparison. Yes there are more concussions from hockey hits but that's because there are 100s more hits versus fights. A better comparison would be:

- NHL reported 88 concussions last season (other reports had it at over 100 but let's stick with league numbers.
- NHL also reported that 8% resulted from fights, or 7.04 in total.
- There were 55,981 hits recorded last season, resulting in 81 concussions = 0.14% concussions per hit.
- There were 544 hockey fights, resulting in 7 concussions = 1.29% concussions per fight.
- Therefore you are 8.89 times more likely to suffer a concussion from a fight versus a hockey hit.

This doctor's research was poorly conducted and other medical professionals criticized him at the time this was published. One of those disagreeing was mentioned in the National Post article.

The way they determined injuries was looking for players who did not play the next game, it was not based on any injury reports from the teams. That's how they came up with the 17 injuries. Anyone would have to agree that hockey fights cause less damage than a street brawl. You have refs stepping in when they get tired and most fighters will back off once they see their opponent in a vunerable position. And the Doctor stating that, "fighting is not causing the concussions" should talk to Ben Eager and Thornton, both concussed from fights this season.

His research also stated that the risk of concussion in a fight was much lower for fighting (0.39 percent) compared to per-game risk due to checking (less than 4.5 percent). That's comparing apples to oranges. You need to compare the type of activity and frequency to get a better comparison. Yes there are more concussions from hockey hits but that's because there are 100s more hits versus fights. A better comparison would be:

- NHL reported 88 concussions last season (other reports had it at over 100 but let's stick with league numbers.
- NHL also reported that 8% resulted from fights, or 7.04 in total.
- There were 55,981 hits recorded last season, resulting in 81 concussions = 0.14% concussions per hit.
- There were 544 hockey fights, resulting in 7 concussions = 1.29% concussions per fight.
- Therefore you are 8.89 times more likely to suffer a concussion from a fight versus a hockey hit.

What you did is do some basic division. What you fail to leave out is that some players are likely to never get in a fight or, if so, rarely. There are other guys who fight much, much more frequently and are thus more likely. Everyone is eligible to be checked during a game. It isnt as simple as you try to make it.

- NHL reported 88 concussions last season (other reports had it at over 100 but let's stick with league numbers.
- NHL also reported that 8% resulted from fights, or 7.04 in total.
- There were 55,981 hits recorded last season, resulting in 81 concussions = 0.14% concussions per hit.
- There were 544 hockey fights, resulting in 7 concussions = 1.29% concussions per fight.

And thus, eliminating fighting will not significantly reduce concussions in the NHL. Thank you for making my point.